Adjustable shoe



July 30, 1935.

J. M. AFFRQNTE ADJUSTABLE 'SHOE Filed May 4, 1954 Patented July 30, 1935UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8. Claims.

invention relates; to: certain new and useimprovements. in. shoes,particularly of the sandaltype.

The main objects; are to. provide means wherethe length. size. of theshoe may be easily varied. also to provide. a novel adjustable shankstiffienersoconstructed; that. the tendency of the shank; tcr break downunder the weight of the wearer isv effectively resisted;

Qther advantages will be: apparent firom a reading: of, the; followingspecification and an examination of. the: accompanying. drawing: inwhich I have shown my invention in one preferrect form.

In the drawing.

Fig; 1 is a; perspective view ofimproved shoe;

2- is a relatively enlarged side elevation partly in section;

Fig. 3 is. an exploded view showing certain details in perspective;

Fig.4 isa plan viewof certain details.v

I represents, the heel proper of a shoe. 2 represents. the quarter orheel portion. 3 represents;- the vamp or toe portion. t represents theshank portion. Secured within the shank between the insole and theoutsole thereof is a metal strip 5 which forms part of my novel shankstifiener. Any suitable means such as a rivet may be employed to securethis strip 5 within the shoe shank. The rear end; of this strip projectsbeyond the rear end of the shank. and is provided with a. plurality ofholes 5-. The cooperating part of: the shank stiffener comprises, inits. preferred form, a sleeve 6 within which the rear end of the strip.5 snugly telescopes. The part 6- preferably has. laterally projectingears 56' with a screw hole in each car. There is also a screw hole inthe rear end of said sleeve. 49 'i-t are screws by which. the part 6 maybe anchored to the heel 5. In the part 6 there is a screw passage in themid portion for receiving an adjusting screw 8. The part 6 is so mountedor shimmed on the heel that its forward end is elevated somewhat (seeFig. 2) to afford a clearance pocket or recess to receive the rear endof the outsole portion of the shank. 9 is what I may term an insolepiece for the heel. This is suitably fitted to the inside of the quarterwith its forward edge spaced above the part 6 sufliciently to afford theclearance pocket or recess for the rear end of the insole portion of theshank. This piece may be held in place by the heads of the screws 1-1.These parts may be properly skived so that the upper surfaces of theheel insole and: the shank insole will be pract-ically flush. I U= is asock lining for the inside or the heel portion. H is a small flap thesock lining l ii which, inthefinished shoe asdelivered to the dealer, ispreferably left loose to give access to the adjusting screw 8-; Thisscrew- 8 isof a size to approximately fillthe particular hole 5 that maybe lined up therewith. The usual sock lining (not shown)- may beprovided theshank and toe portion of the shoe. Now, assuming the shoe asdelivered to the dealer is found tobe a-littletooshort ora little toolong for a prospective customer. In that event, the dealer has but toremove the screw- 8, shift the parts so as toleng-thenor shorten thedegree to which the part 5 will overlap the heel longitudinally; reapplythe screw," and, finally, cement down the flap. The spacing of the holes5' is preferably such as to permit the length size variation toconform;to the commercialsize variations. Ordinarily, three holes 5' will befound toafiorda,- suffici'entl'ywide variation in length size toaccommodate most feet of a given width size. Itsometimes; happens thatone person will have one foot longer than the other. By my invention,the dealer is not obliged to' split, two pair of" shoes of differentsizes to accommodate such a customer; but may adjust either one ofa'pai-r of my shoes to take care of this variation. By this invention, adealer is not required to purchase and carry as large" a stock as whenstocking up: with shoes of the conventional sizes. By my invention, therear end of the shank stiifener extends well" back of the center of theheel and provides a' long bearing, the effect of which is tosuccessfully resist. the tendency of the shank to break down with theweight of the wearer.

I have shown and described my invention in y ne preferred fo m, being,aware hat various' changes may be'mad'e' in design and constructionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Forexample, the variation in length size adjustment is effected by varyingthe degree to which the part 5 overlaps the breast of the heel. Theemployment of a piece such as the sleeve 6 furnishes one a simple andefficient means to that end, but this particular means is not essentialso long as some means is provided to hold the projecting end of thepiece 5 securely to the heel in different degrees of overlap and alsoprovided a proper clearance pocket or recess is present at the front ofthe heel to receive the end of the shank including the terminal portionsof the insole and outsole which sheath the shank stiffener in variouspositions of longitudinal adjustment of the piece 5 with respect to theheel.

I claim:

1. A sandal type shoe comprising a heel portion, a metallic socketcarried thereby and open at its front end, a vamp portion having arearwardly extending shank stiffened by a metallic strip sheathedbetween the insole and outsole portions thereof and extending beyond theends of said portions and slidable into said socket, said heel portionhaving a pocket at its forward end to telescopically receive and hidethe endsof the insole and outsole portions of the shank surrounding saidmetallic strip, and means to lock said shank end within the heel portionin any one of a plurality of positions to permit said shoe to be variedin over-all length without removing said insole and outsole portions ofthe shank from said pocket and from above the heel.

2. A sandal shoe comprising a heel portion, a vamp portion having arearwardly extending shank provided with a metallic arch supportingstrip secured between the insole and outsole portions thereof andcovered thereby except at its rear end, a metallic socket secured on topof the heel portion and with which the uncovered end of said strip endis telescopically adjustable, said heel portion having a forwardlyfacing pocket above the breast of the heel to receive the rear ends ofthe insole and outsole portions of the shank and to permit supportthereof by the breast portion.

3. In a shoe, a vamp portion having a rearwardly extending shankportion, a metallic shank stiifener secured within the shank andprojecting beyond the rear end thereof, a heel portion having a pocketat the front for telescopically receiving the end of the shank, andmeans for securing the projecting end of the shank stiffener to the heelportion in different positions of adjustment longitudinally thereof topermit varying the length size of said shoe, the depth of said pocketbeing suificient to permit said adjustment without removing said shankfrom said pocket and from above the heel.

4. A shoe of the sandal type comprising a heel having a pocket at itsupper front portion below the seat thereof, a vamp having a rearwardlyextending shank comprising an insole and an outsole secured together attheir edges, the ends of said insole and outsole being adjustable to andfro in said heel pocket, a shank stiffener comprising two adjustabletelescopic members, one being rigidly secured to the heel in line withsaid pocket, the other being rigidly secured to said shank between theinsole and outsole portions thereof, and means to hold said telescopicstiffener members in different positions of longitudinal adjustmentwithout removing the ends of said insole and outsole from said heelpocket and from above the heel.

5. A sandal type shoe comprising a heel portion, a metallic socketcarried thereby and open at its front end, a vamp portion having arearwardly extending shank stiffened by a metallic strip held betweenthe insole and outsole portions thereof and extending rearwardly beyondthe ends of said insole and outsole portion, said metallic strip beingtelescopically adjustable in said socket, the outsole portion of saidshank overlapping the forward part of the heel, with means to lock saidmetallic strip in said socket in different positions of adjustment, saidoutsole portion of the shank overlapping the heel in all of saidpositions of adjustment, and means above the heel portion constituting asupport for the human heel pad, said means overlapping the insoleportion of said shank.

6, A sandal type shoe comprising a heel portion, a vamp portion having arearwardly extending shank including an insole and an outsole, ametallic stiffener strip enclosed in the shank be tween the insole andthe outsole and projecting rearwardly therefrom, means carried by theheel, the exposed end of said metallic stiffener strip being adjustablysecurable thereto in different positions longitudinally to vary thelength size of the shoe, the rear end of said outsole overlapping theforward end of the heel in all different positions of adjustment, withmeans on the heel above the metallic stiffener strip and overstandingthe insole portion of the shank to form a support for the human heelpad.

'7. An adjustable shoe comprising a heel portion, a vamp portion havinga rearwardly extending arched shank including insole and outsoleportions, the outsole overlapping the upper front surface of the heel,in all positions of adjustment, a metallic stiffener strip for thearched shank secured between the insole and outsole portions thereof andprojecting rearwardly beyond the insole portion, means to adjustbly andfirmly secure the rear portion of the stiifener strip to the heel top,to vary the length size of said shoe, with means overlying the heel topto hide said strip and to form a seat for the human heel pad.

8. A shoe composed of two parts, one part comprising a vamp and a shank,the other part comprising a heel and a quarter, a two-part-metallicshank stiffener and connector, one part of said stiffener being embeddedin said shank, the other part of said stiffener being embedded in theupper part of said heel, means for rigidly securing together the twoparts of said stiffener to connect the two parts of said shoe, the rearportion of said shank overlapping the breast of said heel when the twoparts of said shoe are assembled together.

JOSEPH M. AFFRONTE.

